Reply To: Should the uk pay for migrants in Calais?

I can’t understand why France doesn’t just arrest them and put them in a jail until they can be deported, is just due to the sheer numbers/cost? They are in France illegally, if they needed refuge then I’m sure France would be happy to process them and put them in a suitable french refugee camp. But if they refuse then they aren’t anything but illegal immigrants and should be treated like any other lawbreaker in a foreign land.

I don’t mind the idea of genuine short-term help to a small number of people who want it but what annoys me is the sense of entitlement they seem to think they have. We can’t have a situation where anyone living in a country with a bit of conflict rumbling on or with a government we’d consider a bit authoritarian to then effectively have a worldwide free travel pass to go settle in any country of their choosing and be treated to a free ride for life. It’s all very well offering help and aid and all the rest of it, but the sheer number of people who could in theory claim that status would be enough to overwhelm most of Europe, never mind the UK.